Buoyant vest



Feb. '24, 1953 P. FRIEDER ET AL 2,629,118

BUOYANT VEST Filed Nov. 4, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ,Feb.f24, 1953 L. P.FRIEDER ETAL 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 BUOYANT VEST Filed Nov. 4, 1950 BY L.Patented Feb. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BUOYAN T VESTLeonard P. Frieder, Great Neck, N. Y., Thomas H. Garber, Silver Spring,Md., and August G. Luisada, New York, N. Y.; said Garber and saidLuisada assignors to said Frieder f Application November 4, 1950, SerialNo. 194,152

7 Claims.

Our invention relates to buoyant vests, and more particularly to animproved buoyant vest adapted to be worn in comfort during shipboardactivities and on small boats and which will support a wearer in thewater in a position with his head and face out of water for extendedperiods of time in safety and in comfort.

The buoyant vests of the prior art have been bulky, uncomfortable towear, and confining to the user. Itis frequently desirable that lifejackets be worn prior to proximate immersion in water. On shipboard whencruising in submarine areas during wartime it is frequently necessarythat life jackets be worn for extended periods of time duringwhich'their wearers must perform their usual shipboard duties. Then,too, men engaged in work on bridges, in Shipyards, on piers and thelike, should wear life jackets for safety. Due to the uncomfortableexperience of carrying the life jackets of the prior art around, menfrequently assumed the risk rather than suffer the annoyance andrestriction of movement accompanying the use of life `jackets of theprior art. Fishermen, Sportsmen in sailboats, outboard motorboats andthe like, frequently wear life jackets only to find that those availableare uncomfortable and impede normal activities out of the water.

One object of our invention is to provide a buoyant vest of minimum bulkconsonant with the function of the vest of maintaining the wearer withhis head and nose out of the Water with maximum freedom of movementandcomfort not only out of the water but also in the water.

Another object of our invention is to provide fa buoyant vest whichVwill support :a wearer in :a substantially upright, slightly backwardlyinclined position in the water and which will posi' tion a wearer inthis fashion even though he be unconscious.

Another object of our invention is to provide a buoyant vest whichis'suiiiciently ventilated so that it may be worn for long periods oftime in warm climates such as encountered in the tropics.

Another object of .our invention is to provide a buoyant Vest of suchcomfort thatit may be worn for long periods of time without chai-lng andmay be worn while sleeping without discomfort.

Another object of our invention is to provide a buoyant vest whichnormally has the minimum buoyancy necessary for flotation so that it maybe formed with minimum bulk and which has additional inflatable elementsof minimum bulk which may be inflated by the user in the water toprovide additionalbuoyancy if desired;

Another object of our invention is to provide a buoyant vest which willsupport a wearer in the water in comfort over long periods of time withminimum chang or abrasion to the skin of the wearer.

Another object of our invention is to provide a buoyantvest which may beused to jump from heights into thewater with safety.

Other and further objects of our invention will appear from thefollowing description.

In the accompanying drawings which form part of the instantspecification rand which are to be read in conjunction therewith and inwhich like reference numerals are used to indicate like parts in thevarious views:

Figure l is a perspective view of our buoyant vest containing oneembodiment of our invention with a portion of the collar broken away toshow its construction.' r

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing the position assumed byourbuoyant vest. in use in the water.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of our vest with the collarremoved.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the construction of our vest withthe hood, the collar and the outer fabric of our vest removed.

Figure 5 is a perspective view showing the construction of the hood.

In general, our invention consists of a vest made of a lining of net orlike porous material to which is secured from the waist to adjacent thearmpits a plurality of masses of cellular rub'-` ber or elastomer. Thismaterial, unlike sponge rubber, in which the air spaces of the materialare interconnected, is composedof minute cells each of which is`individually encased in a wall of rubber like so many tiny balloons.The cells are filled with an inert gas, such as nitrogen or carbondioxide. Since there is no communica tion between the cells the productis resilient, light in weight, extremely buoyant, and has a negligiblemoisture absorption. A cubic foot of this material weighs approximatelysix to eight pounds, depending upon the degree of expansion, as comparedwith actual rubber, which, before expansion, has a density of aboutsixty-four pounds per cubic foot. v

The massof rubber adjacent one side of the front, say the left side, isslightly less in volume than that adjacent the right front side of thevest. This eccentricity of buoyancy, as pointed out hereinafter, insuresa turning moment in calm water. The mass of buoyant material secured tothe back of the vestis less than that acrossthe front of the vest. .Theupper portion of the vest around the neck and upper shoulders iscomprised of a hood formed of the cellular flexible buoyant material.The masses of buoyant material are provided with vertically extendingair passages and the hood is provided with openings adjacent thesepassages to permit warm air to rise upwardly, thus Ventilating the vest.The front of the hood is secured to the vest, and the back of the hoodis secured only around the neck, so that the hood is adapted to floatfree of the shoulders when the jacket is immersed. The masses of buoyantmaterial are covered with an outer fabric which may be itted withpockets in front. The pockets contain inflatable cells. The arrangementis such that the normal buoyancy of the buoyant masses is just suicientor slightly more than sufficient to support a wearers head above thewater. For comfort and ease in breathing, an increased buoyancy isrequired, and this is supplied from the inflatable cells in the pockets.A crotch strap isprovided for holding the Vest in place, and a collaradapted to t around the chin and back of the neck of the wearer may alsobe provided.

Referring now to Figure 4, the vest is formed with an inner liningmaterial I6 which may be made of a net or other similar porous materialsufficiently strong to form the base for the buoyant material. A sectionof buoyant material for the left front of the vest is composed of asheet l2 of closed-cell blown elastomer, which may be natural orsynthetic rubber or the like. This sheet extends from the breast to thewaist and is formed of two thicknesses. The second thickness I3 is inthe form of vertically extending ribs which may be either integral withthe sheet I?. or may be separate strips cemented to or otherwise securedto the sheet I2 in such a manner as to provide longitudinally extendingair passageways I4. The left front mass may be joined to the lining I8by horizontal seam I6 and vertical seams I8 and 20 and a cross bottomhorizontal seam 22, which seams connect the outer fabric 86 to the innerlining I8. The right front of the lining I8 holds a buoyant masscomprised of sheet 24 of cellular elastomer of the closed-cell blowntype, sheet 26 similar to sheet 24, and a plurality of ribs 28 similarto ribs i3, either formed integrally with sheet 26 or secured thereto inany suitable manner. The right front buoyant mass, composed of the twothicknesses plus the ribs, is sewed to the lining along top horizontalseam 30, outer fabric seam 32, inner vertical seam 34 and bottomhorizontal seam 36. It will be observed that the left front buoyant massis of less volume than the right front buoyant mass. When the rightfront buoyant mass is sewed to the lining, or otherwise secured thereto,the ribs 2B will form vertical air ducts 38 similar to the airpassageways I4 formed by the ribs I3 of the left front buoyant mass.

A yoke or hood, as shown in Figure 5, is adapted to fit over theshoulders and around the neck of the vest. It is composed of a buoyantmass formed of three layers or sheets 40, 42 and 44 of closed-cell blownelastomer and a plurality of ribs 46 of the same material defining airpassageways 48 therebetween. Along the upper portion of the shoulder weprovide a plurality of openings 56 communicating with the airpassageway-s through which air heated by the body of a wearer may riseand escape. The lower front portion of the yoke is secured to the liningID by sewing along front seams 52 and 54 and side seams 56 and 58, whichextend only part of the way around the arms. The yoke is then secured tothe lining along seams 66 and 62, joining each other by seam 64 aroundthe back of the neck. From the back of the neck to the seam 52 the yokeis secured by a seam 66 on the right side and by a seam 68 along theleft side of the jacket. The left-hand rear edge 'Il of the hood 18, theentire lower back edge I2 of the hood, and the rear right edge 'I4 ofthe hood are free and not secured to the lining. The holes 56 not onlyprovide venting of the air passageways but also make the main body ofbuoyant material over the shoulders more compressible, permitting easyraising of the arms of the wearer. The seams 68 and 62 are tangent tothe back of the neck seam 64 and when on a wearer form approximately anangle of ninety degrees with each other. The arrangement is such thatwhen the jacket is worn in water, the rear of the hood will be lifted,causing it to assume the shape of a truncated cone with the upperportion of the cone around the head of the wearer supporting it out ofwater in easy breathing position.

The buoyant masses of the hood, as can be seen by a reference to Figure3, have their lower edges spaced from the upper edges of the rearbuoyant mass I6 and from the upper edges of the left and right frombuoyant masses. This provides an area into which or out of which air mayiiow from the lower air passages. The lower portion of the rear or" thelining holds a rear buoyant massI 'I5 which is of much less volume thanthe front buoyant masses. It, too, has a plurality of ribs "I8 deningVertical air passages 88. The buoyant mass i6 is confined by the liningand the fabric 86 along an upper seam 82, the side seams I5 and and arear lower horizontal seam B4. The outside of the hood yis formed byfabric 86. This fabric may be dyed with a dye of a bright color easilyvisible in the daylight and locatable at night by its ability toiluoresce under searchlights containing an ultraviolet element of thespectrum. In addition, the fabric covering and the lining may be treatedwith any mildew-resistant material known to the art.

It will be observed that the sewing of the front covering to the backlining forms a series of pockets into which the buoyant masses arepositioned. The lining and the front covering protect the cellularrubber material. To the front of the outer covering 86 we secure a pairof pockets 96 and 92'. These pockets are sewed adjacent the frontcovering oi our vest along the upper seams 94 and 96 and vertical seams98 and H00. Each of the pockets contains buoyant material and aninilatable balloon |02 each fitted with a tube |04 through which theinflatable bailocns or bladders may be inilated. If desired, a smallcylinder of compressed gas. as is well known to the art, may be used toinflate the cells I82. These cells, when inflated, provide additionalbuoyancy in front of the jacket.

The buoyant masses we have thus far described are sufficient to supporta wearer in the slightly inclined, face upward position shown in Figure2, though the buoyancy is not sul'cient to hold the wearer out of thewater in easy breathing position when the water is rough. In otherwords, the buoyancy of the jacket is slightly below that desired forsafety at sea under all conditions. In order to be able to provide ajacket which can be worn with comfort for shipboard duties or in andabout the water we have reduced the buoyancy of the xed buoyant massesto a point below the desired buoyancy but 'aealane s still sufficient tofloat a wearer. When immersion takes place, a wearer inflates the cellsin the pockets so that these will assume the position shown in Figure 2,thus maintaining the wearer` in a comfortable position for easybreathing.

A belt |06 is secured to the lower portion of.

the vest in any suitable manner and is provided with a front buckle |08.A crotch strap in the form of a V is secured to the back of the beltadjacent the upper portions thereof. A connecting buckle ||2 secures asingle front crotch strap I|4 to a snap hook ||6 through an adjustablebuckle I I8. The snap hook is adapted to be secured to a ring carried bythe jacket. A wearer may be lifted from the water by means of this belt,if desired.

A collar |20, which comprises a sheet of cellular rubber material |22enclosed lin a fabric cover |24 may be sewed to the jacket as shown linFigure 1. This collar is provided with a buckle |26 and a chin strap |28for securing the collar around the head of the wearer', as shown inFigure 2. The collar cradles the head and prevents it from dropping tothe rear or to the sides when a person is unconscious. When the chinstrap is secured, the collar will prevent the head from droppingforward, so that a wearer may sleep with safety in the water.

The total buoyancy of the front masses is greater than the buoyancy ofthe rear masses, thus inducing a turning movement constraining thewearer to float in the front upward position. The buoyancy of the rearmasses, principally that of the free end of the hood, is such that thewearer will be floated in the inclined position with his head resting onthe hood which, due to the manner in which it is secured to the lining,will form a truncated cone faced downwardly. The securing of the pocketsso that the lower ends are free causes these to move upwardly and awayfrom the body when iniiated, as shown in Figure 2. In this position thebuoyant cells apply a much greater turning moment to the body, insuringthat the position at which the wearer fioats will be rearwardlyinclined, that is, face upwardly. The Ventilating channels providesufficient circulation of the air to keep the wearer comfortable whenwearing the jacket on shipboard, even in warm climates. The reduction ofthe buoyant material in volume, accompanied by the use of an extremelylight buoyant material, prevents the jacket from being ugly and bulky,as is the case with traditional life vests.

The arrangement of the buoyant material around the head has a strongdirecting force on a body dropped in any position in the water, insuringthe turning of the body, head upwardly. The distribution of the buoyantmasses insures that a person will float face upwardly. The provision ofa greater buoyant mass on the right side of the front than on the leftside of the jacket, as pointed out above, will turn a person faceupwardly even in calm water. This prevents the center of gravity and thecenter of buoyancy from reaching a position of dead center, as might bethe case if an unconscious person were immersed face downwardly in thewater. The uneven distribution of the buoyant masses in the front of thejacket insures a turning moment when a person is lying face downwardly.This turning moment, once started, turns the face out of the water, inwhich position our jacket will maintain a wearer.

The collar is raised automatically upon immersion of the jacket on awearer in the water. It provides suflicient turning moment to turn awearer face upwardly with a minimum of buoyant masses. In a series ofjumps from heights it was found that the jacket immediately brought thewearer to the surface and in a rearwardly inclined, face upwardposition. Lying face downwardly in calm water, the jacket turns a personface upwardly in a matter of seconds. A person wearing the jacket in thewater may swim with ease. By inating the cells of the pockets a wearerwill be supported out of the water a greater distance than otherwise andsu'icient buoyancy is present to support a wearer for long periods oftime. The particular cellular rubber material is such that its rate ofwater absorption is substantially negligible so that there is littleloss of buoyancy over long periods of time. Only the chang of thesurface of the rubber material and the rupture of the cells reducesbuoyancy and this is conned to the surface. Furthermore, the fabriccovering keeps this action to a minimum. It will be observed that theventilating passages and 28 and the corresponding upper passages 46extend substantially vertically and are positioned adjacent the body ofa wearer. This can readily be seen by reference to Figure 3. Thepassages form flues. They are open at the bottom and communicate to theatmosphere adjacent their upper portions. In this manner as the air inthe passages becomes heated from body heat the heated air will riseescaping to the atmosphere at the top and being replaced by cooler aircoming into the passages at the bottom. As pointed out above, the lowerends of the passages in the hood also communicate with the atmosphereand are vented at their upper ends by the apertures 50. Cool air will bedrawn into the bottom of these and pass upwardly to the apertures 50. Aportion of the air from the bottom passages may also ow upwardly throughthe passages 46 admixed with cool air. It is believed that the manner inwhich the Ventilating passages function will be clear from the drawingsand the structure described above.

It will be seen that we have accomplished the objects of our invention.We have provided a buoyant vest of minimum bulk consonant with the dutyof the vest to maintain a wearer with his head and nose out of water,aiording maximum freedom of movement and comfort both in the water andout. We have provided a vest which will support a wearer in asubstantially upright, slightly backwardly inclined position in thewater even though the wearer be unconscious. Our buoyant vest isprovided with ventilation so that it may be worn for extended periods oftime in warm climates without undue discomfort and without chang. Ourbuoyant vest is such that additional buoyancy may be given to theassembly by inflating inflatable members positioned in effectivelocations.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is Within the scope of ourclaims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made indetails within the scope of our claims without departing from the spiritof our invention. It is therefore to be understood that our invention isnot to be limited to the specic details shown and described.

claim is:

1. A buoyant vest including in combination a fabric foundation providedwith armholes, and including front and back portions, masses of cellularbuoyant material secured to said fabric foundation at said front andback portions and means providing elongated vertically extendingVentilating passages formed in said masses of cellular buoyant materialadjacent the body of a wearer and means providing communication with theatmosphere adjacent the bottom and top of said passages.

2. A buoyant vest as in claim 1 in which said fabric foundation isformed of porous material.

8. A buoyant vest including in combination a fabric foundation providedwith a front, back and armholes, a lower mass of buoyant materialsecured to the fabric foundation and extending from the waist toadjacent the armholes, a hood formed of flexible buoyant materialextending over the shoulders of the fabric foundation in front and inrear and having its lower portion terminating adjacent the upper portionof the lower mass of buoyant material, means securing said hood to thefabric foundation along the lower front portion thereof and along theshoulders of the fabric foundation, the rear portion of said hood beingunattached to the fabric foundation, the construction being such thatwhen the buoyant vest is immersed in water upon a wearer the rear of thehood will float away from the fabric foundation to support the back ofthe head of a wearer.

4. A buoyant vest as in claim 3 in which said buoyant material is formedof masses of cellular elastomer having vertically extending Ventilatingpassageways .and said hoodris formed with a plurality of openingscommunicating with saidv REFERENCES CITED The following references areof record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 144,561 Palmer Nov. 11, 1873212,402 Richards Feb. 18, 1879 576,649 Bell et al. Feb. 9, 1897 817,656McCalla Apr. l0, 1906 1,252,842 Richardson Jan. 8, 1918 2,226,564Kienitz Dec. 31, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 3,961 GreatBritain 1889 18,005 Great Britain 1908 102,632 Great Britain Dec. 21,1916

